5 Recycled or Natural Craft Books to Keep You and the Kids Busy This Summer
May 31, 2011 Eco Friendly Parenting
Here comes summer! School is getting out soon and it’s time to figure out how you’re going to keep the kids busy.
Crafts are a great place to start. They encourage kids to be creative. Recycled crafts are even better, as they teach your family how to reused things that might have been trash otherwise. Feed that crafting habit without buying a ton of new supplies. Here are some books that can help you get started.
Craftcycle: 100+ Earth-Friendly Projects and Ideas for Everyday Living
This one has ideas suitable for a wide range of ages, not just young children. It has over 100 ideas for you to try that encourage sustainable living. If you’ve seen those bags made out of old potato chip bags, for example, this book will help you make your own.
Alternacrafts: 20+ Hi-Style Lo-Budget Projects to Make
This book is recommended for grades 8 and up, but crafty kids at younger ages may enjoy it too. The book has a bit of a quirky style, and you’ll learn to make things such as pin-prick cards, pop bottle pendants and more.
Green Crafts for Children: 35 Step-by-Step Projects Using Natural, Recycled, And Found Materials
While not everything in this book is recycled, most of the ideas here will be things you have around the home anyhow. Not like you can recycle the ingredients for salt dough anyhow. Other crafts encourage the use of found materials such as shells, pine cones and tree bark.
Recycled Crafts Box
This book is definitely more for the elementary school set, not so much for older kids. What’s great about this book is that not only does it give you great ideas for recycled crafts, it separates the ideas by the materials and gets into how they’re made and how they’re recycled.
Socks Appeal: 16 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socks
We all have orphaned socks and socks that just don’t fit the kids anymore. Why not have a little fun with them and make toys from those old socks you don’t need anymore?
Socks Appeal has projects suitable for kids and adults who are new to sewing, as well as those with more experience.
Tags: craft books, crafts, keeping kids busy, recycled crafts, summer
What’s So Green About Extended Breastfeeding?
Jan 12, 2011 Eco Friendly Parenting
I got a question from a reader about a month ago asking what’s green about breastfeeding, especially past age 2. While it’s easy to say it’s better for the environment to breastfeed an infant than to formula feed, it’s harder to say what’s so great about it as your child gets older.
I have to admit, I don’t really think of extended breastfeeding as a specifically environmental issue. It’s certainly popular among eco friendly moms, but others do it as well. A lot of research shows that it’s good for the child and the mother.
The early benefits of breastfeeding are simple. Breastfeeding means you don’t have to buy formula and all the supplies to go along with formula feeding. The only thing you must have is you. That’s less waste right there. The breast pump and other supplies are nice if you want to let others feed baby sometimes, but not an absolute must. The fewer supplies you buy, the more eco friendly it’s going to be in those early days.
The greatest benefits of breastfeeding, both for the normal duration and extended, may be emotional. There’s no bond quite the same. The bond between a formula fed baby and mother is still utterly amazing, but it’s a different sort of intimacy from breastfeeding. Breastfeeding has an emotional impact on mother and child, especially when it’s enjoyed by both. If it’s not still being enjoyed by both parties, I’m a firm believer in saying that it’s just fine to call it quits. You still love your baby and will still be loved by your baby.
Health Benefits of Extended Breastfeeding
Extended breastfeeding has proven health benefits. It cuts down on the odds of ear infections, diabetes, heart disease, and other health disorders. It also has health benefits for the mother.
This may not seem like a “green” issue at first glance, but one’s use of modern medicine can most certainly have an ecological effect. Too many medications make it into the water supply either through improper disposal or by its presence in urine or feces after you’ve taken the medicine.
Fewer medications making their way into the water supply may not be specifically about breastfeeding, but it’s something to think about.
Having just dealt with a still breastfeeding nearly two year old with a really bad cold, I can also state that extended breastfeeding is wonderful when a child gets sick. There’s no greater comfort food.
Eco Benefits to Extended Breastfeeding?
Beyond simply cutting down on the odds of needing medications to treat a sick child, there’s one very basic ecological benefit to continuing to breastfeed an older toddler: You’re using less cow’s milk.
Most cows are not kept in an ecologically sensitive way. You can improve matters by buying organic milk from grass fed cows, but your own milk is still the best. It doesn’t have to be transported from a distance. It doesn’t have to be stored in any containers. You don’t have to give it in a cup or wash the cup after. It’s there when your child needs it.
Overall, I have to say that extended breastfeeding really isn’t about being green. It has some benefits that can be described as being eco friendly, but that’s not the main benefit at all. It has much more to do with the health of the mother and child, with potential long term health benefits. That’s what makes it so popular with “green” moms. Extended breastfeeding is one more way to try to do the best things for our families. That it’s not bad for the environment is just a little plus.
Tags: benefits of breastfeeding, breastfeeding, extended breastfeeding, toddler breastfeeding
What to do About All the Non Eco Friendly Gifts Your Kids Want
Dec 7, 2010 Eco Friendly Parenting, Green Gift Ideas
Most children have very long wish lists for Christmas. There are so many ads on television, so many toys discussed with friends, and they want most of them.
Unfortunately, very few toys are made in anything remotely resembling an environmentally friendly manner. How do you deal with the requests for toys that are not eco friendly when you’re trying to raise a green family?
Buy Used
Some classics I find hard to resist, as do many other parents. The good part about some classics is that they’re pretty easy to buy used rather than new.
Legos are a good example. Many of us had them growing up. We may even have some stuffed away in a closet or at a parent’s house.
I love Legos. They encourage creativity, especially the plain block sets. But eco friendly they are not. Too much plastic.
On the plus side, they’re durable. I’d expect a set to be handed down many times. That helps a lot on the environmental side of things.
Any toy that has been out for a few months you have the chance to buy used. No guarantees, of course, and you have to look at how much they’ve been damaged by previous owners. But in terms of finding popular toys in an eco friendly manner, that’s as close as you’re going to get.
Trade Around
This method takes a lot of trust. You can trade with family and friends who also have kids for the toys your kids want. You may even be able to arrange a toy rotation for those toys that they want returned. Agree that a toy will spend a month, a week, whatever length of time at each house.
If this works, it also teaches sharing. It’s harder to do with really possessive kids. Children who accept the trades can enjoy the wider selection of toys they can play with without costing you a lot of money.
Have a plan for when toys break. Will they be replaced? What if one child is more careful and the other damages a lot of toys? You do not want to ruin a friendship over a few toys.
Encourage Handmedowns
Anyone you know with kids older than yours you can encourage to give your children handmedown toys. Discuss the ones your kids want and see if they’re available. This makes gift giving within the family much cheaper if all the cousins are within a good age range.
Discover Eco Friendly Alternatives
This is hard to do, as many toys really do not have an eco friendly alternative
When it’s possible, go for it.
Get the Toy Requested
We’re human, we parents. Sometimes just because it will delight our children, most of us will choose the toy requested, regardless of environmental considerations.
It’s best if you avoid this until you’ve gone through the other options. But when your child really wants a particular item, and you’ve been eco friendly in every way you can manage, it may not be completely unreasonable to give in. Just consider what you’ll do with the toys when they break or aren’t played with anymore. Hopefully you’ll be able to find them a good home to be played with again.
Tags: christmas, gift giving, giving green gifts, holidays, kids, non eco friendly gifts
Buy Christmas Gifts That Encourage Kids to do More Outdoor Activities
Nov 24, 2010 Eco Friendly Parenting
Here it is, the start of the holiday shopping season, or at least the start I’m willing to admit to. I’m trying to ignore all those businesses that had Christmas stuff out back before Halloween, or the ones that tried to move Black Friday a week early.
At this time of year, kids are clamoring for all kinds of gifts. The hottest toys are discussed, and most kids want far more than they could ever play with. It can be pretty crazy.
With all the toys many children already have, I like to suggest thinking about what it is you’d like them to be doing, as well as what they like to do. Any gifts you do give you will want appreciated, after all.
My own favorite gift for my kids to get right now is anything that encourages them to be more active. They’re pretty active already, and I’d like it to stay that way as long as possible. Better for their health and certainly a better way for them to appreciate the world around them.
The really great part about outdoor activities is that whatever equipment they require is not likely to include a lot of small pieces to be left all over the house. Sports equipment and the like left around the yard, sure, but not all over the house.
Here are some ideas to get you going on shopping for outdoor toys and equipment for your own kids.
Wheeled
The right wheeled equipment depends on age. Younger kids will need more stable equipment than older kids, and any kid will need a bit of time to get used to unfamiliar equipment. But it’s all fun.
Consider a bike, tricycle, scooter, roller skates, skateboard, and any of their cousins
Team Sports
Whether you enroll your kids in a team sport or just play at home with family and friends, team sports help your child be more physically fit and active while learning how to play on a team. Just how good the lesson is will depend on the particular team, since some overly emphasize winning and giving the top players most of the game time.
Your child probably has a favorite sport, and it’s best to stick with that when getting your child into a team sport. You can push for other sports, but if you’re going for more active, you want your child to enjoy what they’re doing. Physical activity should not be dreaded.
Swing Set
How can any young child resist a good swing set
There are of course many other ways to get kids active outdoors. What are the favorites in your family?
Tags: bikes, christmas, holidays, outdoor activities, scooter, shopping, skateboard, skates, sports
How to Teach Your Kids About Conserving Water
Nov 10, 2010 Eco Friendly Parenting
Water is one of the most important resources we have. Here in the United States, most of us take for granted that we will have safe, clean water available for drinking, bathing, cleaning and watering. It’s very rare to have a serious water shortage here to a point beyond where yard watering is limited.
Our water resources aren’t infinite, however, despite that water goes through a continuous cycle on this planet. Fresh water can be very hard to come by, and many places are beginning to struggle with how to keep a sufficient water supply available.
This is why it’s important for you to teach your kids about water conservation. Helping them to understand the value of water will help them to think about how they use water.
1. Make a Rain Gauge.
You can make a simple rain gauge by placing a glass jar or plastic bottle outside to collect the rain, and then measuring how much rain it collects. The sides should be as straight as possible, and the opening should be about as wide as the rest of it.
Leave it outside when it’s raining, then measure how much rain it collects. You can chart it over several days if you like, noting either rain totals or dumping the jar regularly to measure the rainfall for a particular period.
This is a good lesson in how much rain falls in your area. You can talk about what’s normal for your area and how it effects the availability of water where you live.
2. Make or Buy a Rain Barrel.
The next step is to make or buy a rain barrel
3. Discuss Your Local Water Resources.
This is a good opportunity for a field trip. Visit a local dam or any local water resources open to the public. Tell your kids how the water comes to your area.
If water tends to run short in your area, talk to them about why water can be an issue and what you can do as a family to limit your use of water.
4. Don’t Use Pesticides or Fertilizers.
Explain to your kids that when pesticides and fertilizers are used, they get washed down into the gutters and can contaminate the water downstream, as well as the health issues involved in using such chemicals in the first place.
Tags: water, water conservation
